Matthew Vadum, Senior Editor at Capital Research Center and author of Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers, this week referred to the Tides Foundation as “a legal money-laundering outfit for the radical left that was founded by Drummond Pike, a leftover peacenik from the 1960s.” In response to the revelation that the Tides Foundation collects millions of dollars in federal funding, Mr. Vadum stated, “This is disgraceful. Our tax dollars should not be funding an organization that helps racist groups like Color of Change and hyper-partisan propaganda shops like Media Matters for America.”

This bold criticism of this federal funding seems vindicated. In short, the federal government funds the Tides Foundation. This same foundation contributes significant sums to the Center for Media and Democracy, which launched a public relations offensive against ALEC. The possibility of federal tax dollars being used to aid organizations stymying the work of a private advocacy group should be disconcerting to all who value our First Amendment right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”